Directorate of Enforcement (ED) 

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is a law enforcement agency and economic intelligence agency responsible for enforcing economic laws in India and fighting economic crime. It is a part of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is made up of officers from the Indian Revenue Service, Indian Corporate Law Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Administrative Service as well as officers promoted from their cadre. The origins of this Directorate go back to 1 May 1956, when an 'Enforcement Unit' was formed in the Department of Economic Affairs under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 to deal with violations of the Exchange Control Act. In the year 1957 the name of this unit was changed. As 'Enforcement Directorate'. Sanjay Kumar Mishra, former Chief Income Tax Commissioner, New Delhi, was appointed as the ED chief to the post of Secretary to the Government of India.

an objective

The main objective of the Enforcement Directorate is the enforcement of the two major Acts of the Government of India, the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 (FEMA) and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (PMLA)

The ED's (Enforcement Directorate) official website covers its other objectives which are mainly related to money laundering investigations in India. In fact, it is an investigative agency, so providing complete details on the public domain is against the Indian government rules.

Organizational set up

Directorate of Enforcement is the Head of Enforcement Directorate, with headquarters in New Delhi. The Directorate of Enforcement has five regional offices in Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata and Delhi headed by Special Directors.

The directorate has regional offices at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Kochi, Delhi, Panaji, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna and Srinagar. He is headed by a Joint Director.

The Directorate has sub-zonal offices at Bhubaneswar, Kozhikode, Indore, Madurai, Nagpur, Allahabad, Raipur, Dehradun, Ranchi, Surat, Shimla, Visakhapatnam and Jammu, headed by Deputy Directors.

Special courts

For the hearing of an offense punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA, the Central Government (in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court), designates one or more Sessions Courts as Special Courts (S). The court is also called "PMLA Court". Any appeal against any order passed by the PMLA court can be filed directly in the High Court for that jurisdiction.